Stolen Time
by Tearlit
Summary: Lily faces her first Valentine's Day without James. AU!


Disclaimer - JKR owns all the HP stuff. A Fine Frenzy owns Ashes and Wine, from whence inspiration and the quote at the bottom came from.

A/N - Thanks to nanabananaxx3 for posing such a wonderful challenge, (in which this won 3rd place) and for introducing me to an awesome new singer! Thanks also go to my extremely wonderful beta, Allison, who did this on horribly short notice. Also...make my day, review!

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Spells flew rapidly overhead, red, green, gold, and Lily Evans Potter turned her thoughts towards Christmas with its trees, baubles and happiness. Yet…as soon as they came, all of these pleasant thoughts vanished – Christmas was over, the trees were dead, baubles broken, and the happiness had melted away. She was ducking and rolling with no idea why; except that this was what she was trained to do. You do not stand idle and let curses hit you, no matter how badly you wanted them to. 

The redhead sprinted to a grove of trees and huddled beneath them, watching the dueling masses. One hand pulled a silver chain from beneath her robes and she began to finger the heart shaped locket. She had awoken this morning to find it lying on the table; James always liked to charm gifts to appear on holidays, Valentine's Day being no exception. Lily had forgotten all about it, and seeing a gift and card lying there was just one more knife that plunged deep into her heart. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she let her thoughts carry her away.

_Lily walked slowly toward her soon to be husband, holding pale yellow roses in one hand, her other clutching her father's arm. Sirius was grinning at James, though the latter failed to notice; he had eyes only for her. He stepped down and took her hand, pulling her slowly away from her father to stand close to his side, where she knew she belonged now. She hardly heard the words the wheezy little wizard recited; the only thing she cared about on this day was James and the new life they were beginning together. However, the last six words of the ceremony seeped into her brain and she smiled even more broadly upon hearing them – "You are now bonded for life."_

Lily shook her head and whispered, "Who knew life would be so short?" She watched the ongoing battle and tried to pick out Sirius from the crowd but she could not find him. She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to take her back to happier days.

_James lifted her high into the air and spun her around; she gasped, clinging to his shoulders. "What are you doing?" she cried._

_"Swinging you, Lily!" he cried, spinning about faster._

_"Why?" she asked, feeling slightly sick by now._

_Her husband abruptly ceased and pulled her close to him for a kiss. "Because I love you," he whispered. "You and only you, now and forever."_

_She smiled and held him close, more than happy to ignore all that was going on in the world. Death Eaters and Dark Lords and battles had no place here, not when they were so happy together._

Lily tried to smile, but it slipped off her face as her thoughts turned darker.

_Lily and James were lying in bed, wrapped in each other's arms, deeply asleep; a loud crash that shook the small house jolted the couple awake. They jumped to their feet and grabbed their wands, staring in shock at the hole where their bedroom wall had been only minutes before. Several masked and cloaked figures were quickly sprinting toward them. James took his wife's hand and pulled her through the house into the kitchen, doing his best to shield her with his body. He grabbed a handful of Floo powder and flung it into the fireplace, shouting out Sirius' address. He shoved Lily into the fireplace and as he followed behind her she heard someone in the kitchen scream a spell and felt James stiffen and gasp; suddenly he was just a heavy weight on her back and they began to spin…_

_The two young people fell out onto the kitchen floor in Sirius' flat and she saw that James was unconscious and blood had begun to trail out of the corner of his mouth. "Oh God…James, wake up, please." She grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse – it was there, though barely so. Lily jumped up and ran to Sirius bedroom, beating on the locked door and screaming for him to come help them._

_The door flew open and Sirius stood there dressed in only a pair of pajama pants. "What's going on?" he gasped, eyes wide._

_She didn't answer, but turned and fled back to the kitchen, where James lay so still and pale. Sirius knelt down and muttered "Rennervate!"_

_His best friend stirred weakly and suddenly was wracked with an intense coughing spasm – blood poured from his mouth to coat his T-shirt and onto the section of kitchen floor beside him. He began to gasp and choke. Sirius grabbed a set of robes he had thrown over the back of the chair and Floo'ed to St. Mungo's for a Healer._

_Lily jerked James into an upright position and pointed her wand at his throat, crying "Anapneo!" However, instead of clearing his airway his breathing grew worse as even more blood and darker bits of things flowed out of his mouth. "Episkey!" Lily said more frantically, but it had no effect at all on James, who was now the ashen gray color of sooty snow._

_"James, just hold on, Sirius is getting help." James, however, continued to choke in earnest, wheezing and coughing as his face took on a blue tinge. Suddenly he slumped over onto the ground and gave one last, long, shuddering breath then became still._

_Sirius returned alone a moment later. "There have been attacks everywhere, and the Healers can't come. We'll have to take him to them, Lily."_

_She looked up at Sirius, eyes wide and whispered, "James is dead."_

Lily came back out of her thoughts, still seeing the blood that had coated her body that night, even though it had long washed away. She clutched the locket tighter in her hand and wondered how she had ever been able to live without James Potter. Slowing standing up, Lily Potter made her way back onto the battlefield. She managed to spot Sirius, dueling quite some yards away, and knew that he would be too late to stop her; she was glad of this. The distraught woman slipped her wand into her pocket and a slow smile began to spread across her face – the first one to be there since James had died.

Her thoughts were largely of James now as she whispered, "Happy Valentine's Day." Lily watched as a jet of cold green light shot from the end of a masked Death Eater's wand and sailed straight toward her. It struck her directly in the chest and she crumpled to the ground, dead before she had even finished falling.

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_"Don't know what to do anymore. I've lost the only love worth fighting for."_


End file.
